Page images
PDF
EPUB

claims of foreign corporations, companies, citizens or subjects against Haiti.

Article XIII

The Republic of Haiti, being desirous to further the development of its natural resources, agrees to undertake and execute such measures as in the opinion of the high contracting parties may be necessary for the sanitation and public improvement of the Republic, under the supervision and direction of an engineer or engineers, to be appointed by the President of Haiti upon nomination by the President of the United States, and authorized for that purpose by the Government of Haiti.

Article XIV

The high contracting parties shall have authority to take such steps as may be necessary to insure the complete attainment of any of the objects comprehended in in this treaty; and, should the necessity occur, the United States will lend an efficient aid for the preservation of Haitian Independence and the maintenance of a a government adequate for the protection of life, property and individual liberty.

Article XV.

The present treaty shall be approved and ratified by the high contracting parties in conformity with their respective laws, and the ratifications thereof

niaires pendantes entre les corporations, compagnies, citoyens ou sujets étrangers et Haïti.

Article XIII

La République d'Haïti désirant pousser au developpement de ses ressources naturelles, convient d'entreprendre et d'exécuter telles mesures qui, dans l'opinion des deux Hautes Parties contractantes, puevent être nécessaires au point de vue de l'Hygiène et du développement matériel de la République sous la surveillance et direction d'un ou de plusieurs ingénieurs qui seront nommés par le Président d'Haïti sur la proposition du Président des EtatsUnis, et autorisés à cette fin par le Gouvernement d'Haïti.

Article XIV

Les deux Hautes Parties Contractantes auront autorité pour assurer, par tous les moyens nécessaires, l'entière exécution des clauses de la présente Convention; et les Etats-Unis, le cas échéant, prêteront leur aide efficace pour la préservation de l'Independance haïtienne et pour le maintien d'un Gouvernement capable de protéger la vie, la propriété et la liberté individuelle.

Article XV

Le présent traité sera approuvé et ratifié par les Hautes Parties contractantes conformément à leurs lois respectives, et les ratifications seront échangées

shall be exchanged in the City of Washington as soon as may be possible.

Article XVI

The present treaty shall remain in full force and virtue for the term of ten years, to be counted from the day of exchange of ratifications, and further for another term of ten years if, for specific reasons presented by either of the high contracting parties, the purpose of this treaty has not been fully accomplished.

In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention in duplicate, in the English and French languages, and have thereunto affixed their seals.

Done at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the 16th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifteen.

dans la ville de Washington aussitôt que possible.

Article XVI

Le présent traité restera en force et vigueur pendant une durée de dix années à partir du jour de l'échange des ratifications, et en outre pour une autre. période de dix années si, suivant des raisons précises formulése par l'une ou l'autre des Hautes Parties contractantes, les vues et objets de la convention ne sont pas accomplis.

En foi de quoi, les Plénipotentiaires respectifs ont signé la présente Convention en double, en Anglais et en Français, et y ont apposé leurs sceaux.

Fait à Port-au-Prince, le 16 Septembre de l'année de notre Seigneur mil neuf cent quinze.

ROBERT BEALE DAVIS, JR

[SEAL.]

[SEAL.]

Chargé d'Affaires of the United States LOUIS BORNO

Secrétaire d'Etat des Relations Exterieures et de l'Instruction Publique And whereas, the said Treaty has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the City of Washington, on the third day of May, one thousand nine hundred and sixteen;

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this third day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen, and [SEAL.] of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fortieth.

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING,

Secretary of State.

WOODROW WILSON

APPENDIX 6. INSTRUCTIONS OF PRESIDENT TO PHILIPPINE COMMISSION, 1900.

In the message transmitted to the Congress on the 5th of December, 1899, I said, speaking of the Philippine Islands:

As long as the insurrection continues the military arm must necessarily be supreme. But there is no reason why steps should not be taken from time to time to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory is held and controlled by our troops. To this end I am considering the advisability of the return of the Commission, or such of the members thereof as can be secured, to aid the existing authorities and facilitate this work throughout the islands.

To give effect to the intention thus expressed, I have appointed Hon. William H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; Hon. Luke I. Wright, of Tennessee; Hon. Henry C. Ide, of Vermont, and Prof. Bernard Moses, of California, commissioners to the Philippine Islands to continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil government already commenced by the military authorities, subject in all respects to any laws which Congress may hereafter enact.

The commissioners named will meet and act as a board, and the Hon. William H. Taft is designated as president of the board. It is probable that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers will be gradual and will occupy a considerable period. Its successful accomplishment and the maintenance of peace and order in the meantime will require the most perfect cooperation between the civil and military authorities in the islands, and both should be directed during the transition period by the same executive department. The commission will therefore report to the Secretary of War, and all their actions will be subject to your approval and control.

You will instruct the commission to proceed to the city of Manila, where they will make their principal office, and to communicate with the military governor of the Philippine Islands, whom you will at the same time direct to render to them every assistance within his power in the performance of their duties. Without hampering them by too specific instructions, they should, in general, be enjoined, after making themselves familiar with the conditions and needs of the country, to devote their attention in the first instance to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives of the islands, both in the cities and in the rural communities, shall be afforded the opportunity to manage their own local affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable and subject to the least degree of supervision and control which a careful study of their capacities and observation of the workings of native control show to be consistent with the maintenance of law, order, and loyalty.

The next subject in order of importance should be the organization of government in the larger administrative divisions corresponding to counties, departments, or Provinces in which the common interests of many or several municipalities falling within the same tribal lines, or the same natural geographical limits, may best be subserved by a common administration. Whenever the commission is of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands is such that the central administration may safely be transferred from military to civil control they will report that conclusion to you, with their recommendations as to the form of central government to be established for the purpose of taking over the control.

Beginning with the 1st day of September, 1900, the authority to exercise, subject to my approval, through the Secretary of War, that part of the power of government in the Philippine Islands which is of a legislative nature is to be transferred from the military governor of the islands to this commission, to be thereafter exercised by them in the place and stead of the military governor, under such rules and regulations as you shall prescribe, until the establishment of the civil central government for the islands contemplated in the last foregoing paragraph or until Congress shall otherwise provide. Exercise of this legislative authority will include the making of rules and orders, having the effect of law, for the raising of revenue by taxes, customs duties, and imposts; the appropriation and expenditure of public funds of the islands; the establishment of an educational system throughout the islands; the establishment of a system to secure an efficient civil service; the organization and establishment of courts; the organization and establishment of municipal and departmental governments, and all other matters of a civil nature for which the military governor is now competent to provide by rules or orders of a legislative character.

The commission will also have power during the same period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational, and civil-service systems and in the municipal and departmental governments as shall be provided for. Until the complete transfer of control the military governor will remain the chief executive head of the government of the islands and will exercise the executive authority now possessed by him and not herein expressly assigned to the commission, subject, however, to the rules and orders enacted by the commission in the exercise of the legislative powers conferred upon them. In the meantime the municipal and departmental governments will continue to report to the military governor and be subject to his administrative supervision and control, under your direction, but that supervision and control will be confined within the narrowest limits consistent with the requirement that the powers

53705-19--9

of government in the municipalities and departments shall be honestly and effectively exercised and that law and order and individual freedom shall be maintained.

All legislative rules and orders, establishments of government, and appointments to office by the commission will take effect immediately, or at such times as they shall designate, subject to your approval and action upon the coming in of the commission's reports, which are to be made from time to time as their action is taken. Wherever civil governments are constituted under the direction of the commission such military posts, garrisons, and forces will be continued for the suppression of insurrection and brigandage and the maintenance of law and order as the military commander shall deem requisite, and the military forces shall be at all times subject, under his orders, to the call of the civil authorities for the maintenance of law and order and enforcement of their authority.

In the establishment of municipal governments the commission will take as the basis of their work the governments established by the military governor under his order of August 8, 1899, and under the report of the board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, to formulate and report a plan of munici pal government, of which his honor Cayetano Arellano, president of the audiencia, was chairman, and they will give to the conclusions of that board the weight and consideration which the high character and distinguished abilities of its members justify.

In the constitution of departmental or provincial governments they will give especial attention to the existing government of the island of Negros, constituted, with the approval of the people of that island, under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899, and after verifying, so far as may be practicable, the reports of the successful working of that government they will be guided by the experience thus acquired, so far as it may be applicable to the condition existing in other portions of the Philippines. They will avail themselves, to the fullest degree practicable, of the conclusions reached by the previous commission to the Philippines.

In the distribution of powers among the governments organized by the commission the presumption is always to be in favor of the smaller subdivision, so that all the powers which can properly be exercised by the municipal government shall be vested in that government, and all the powers of a more general character which can be exercised by the departmental government shall be vested in that government, and so that in the governmental system, which is the result of the process, the central government of the islands, following the example of the distribution of the powers between the States and the National Government of the United States, shall have no direct administration except of matters of purely general concern,

« PreviousContinue »